[Bakiri Retsu]

It'd taken a while after the raid on Yizoy to collect all the parts she needed from her various lockers, anonymously rented safes and hideouts but Retsu had finally made her way to the address on Facade's card. Double checking the contents of the card just in case she walked up to the door before she paused, hand hovering in front of the keypad.

In truth she likely could've gathered everything she needed far quicker or even gotten other people to do it but regardless of whether she herself realized or not she'd been dragging her feet, insisting on doing everything herself with the flimsy excuse of making sure it was done right and taking the most roundabout paths imaginable to ensure she wasn't tracked to her hiding places. The weight of the duffel bag slung over her shoulder wore down on her, its contents far more varied than they usually were. Far more varied than they had to be in fact given that this was but the first day of their collaborative project. It was highly unlikely they'd end up using even a fraction of them but that too she'd justified with the flimsy excuse of having no idea what kind of facilities the workshop contained and as such no clue which of her projects she could work on.

She let out a snort. It would be quite ironic for her end to come through a rigged keypad, especially given that Facade knew she'd killed people in exactly that way at her old workshop. Her eye narrowed and her mood soured. That prick was probably doing this on purpose too as some kind of power move, a reminder that he knew her methods and could end her with ease. The corners of her lips curled up as she pressed the first key. Overconfidence was a flimsy shield, easily demolished through high yield explosives. Let him believe himself invulnerable. It would only work to her advantage.

The click of the door unlocking resounded like the pulling of a grenade's pin and for the briefest moment her gaze dipped down, checking for wires as she pushed the door open just in case she had to duck back before a claymore or the like went off. For now it seemed there was no threat but Retsu would keep one eye open. She knew deep inside that their little war had begun the moment she'd set foot into the building and but a single wrong move could lead to her demise, whether now or months down the line.

"Yo. Fancy place ya got here."

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Tags: facade

[facade]

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| facade | @freelance_facade
Location: Tokyo, Japan. | Current Status: heating up the forge
Now Playing: Bear Ghost - Necromancin Dancin

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It'd been a while since the raid on Yizoy, a company that had since come under UVS' umbrella properly. He'd chewed out the old CEO about security, when he was 'officially' made aware. Honestly, a part of facade's mind was convinced that Retsu would never show up. She was paranoid, even moreso than he was, and quite blatantly distrusted him still. That would be smart of her, if she wasn't one of the few people he'd resolved to avoid pissing off or back-stabbing at all costs. Late in the morning, typing away at a computer in his room of one of the apartments connected to the workshop, he came to a realisation.
"Fuck, I forgot to change the keypads..."

He'd had weeks to make that small change, and it'd completely slipped his mind. Keypads were insecure, they were easy to brute force and they could be read by the naked eye if used often enough. Plus, as he'd learnt from Retsu, they could be rigged to make quite the nasty trap. But how else to secure the workshop from the outside? From the front door there'd be no reason to suspect that this wasn't just an apartment building, and it was, but the external entrance to this part of the first floor could potentially stand out. No villain he knew, especially not Retsu, would trust any kind of biometrics on the door, and he hadn't given her any other code or key.

Pondering this, he left the 'break room' so to speak and headed through an internal door into the main chamber of the workshop. Almost on queue, the click of the door unlocking resounded like the pulling of a grenade's pin and Aiden stepped behind one of the blastproof walls for cover. For all he knew, it wouldn't be at all out of character for Retsu to lead with a grenade, to probe for traps or something. Luckily, there was no such pre-emptive strike. Either way, he knew deep inside that their little game of minesweeper had begun even before set foot in the building and a single wrong move could lead to his demise, either now or when he least expected it. "Yeah, I know. I pride myself on quality for my clients, y'know?" Aiden was wearing fairly little prosthetics or makeup compared to what he usually used as Facade, simply sporting a lower face mask and some green coloured contacts. He was dressed casually, in black jeans and an over-sized black hoodie (comfortable in the air-conditioned building).

He motioned for Retsu to come in, walking over to a couch a little further into the room. It was one of three that surrounded a seemingly innocuous coffee table, save for the circular glass panel in its centre. There were a number of coasters littering its surface, too. Aiden passed his hand over the panel, causing a holographic projection to appear above the table at about chest height (for him), then sat down. It was a 3D UI, with a load of schematics/CAD files, material/component order links, and code snippets in little bubbles around a central search box.

"Take a seat, if you want. I want to talk shop before we get started. Then, I can give you a quick tour of the place. This is a little OS I made to test out my hologram tech. You can pull up info, research, blueprints, send stuff to the printers, whatever. There's one of the projectors next to each workbench, just pass your hand over the panel palm-forward to open or close it." He was sitting on the edge of the couch, cleaning up/sorting the interface. Then, he closed the projection and opened up his laptop (previously sat on the couch). "Any immediate questions? I'll try to give straight answers."

[Bakiri Retsu]

Retsu looked him up and down with a wary squint. He appeared unarmed but when it came to those in power that was never truly the case. Not when quirks were thrown into the mix. The very thought soured her mood.

"The mask makes sense ah suppose," she muttered loud enough to be overheard. Of course it wasn't the face mask he was currently wearing that she meant but given how little she cared for the opinions of others whether he sussed that out or not really wasn't her problem. Still, she'd learned from her past interactions. One did not survive for as long as she did without the capability to do so. When in his home base she'd stick to plausible deniability until something really pissed her off.

While her eye still flicked left to right to check for danger Retsu didn't hesitate to follow after Facade. To do so would be a sign of weakness and she knew far better than to do so while in potentially hostile territory. Taking a seat wasn't something she was gonna go along with though. She wasn't that stupid. For a split second, a pause so short it'd be unnoticeable unless you were paying close attention to her, she analyzed the couches. They were utterly assuming. Which likely meant they were the most dangerous thing in the entire building.

Now, how would she kill someone with a couch? An explosive triggered by a pressure plate would be the most foolproof solution. Putting it into the backrest just below neck height would be lethal but if done wrong risked injuring others as well. She didn't know Facade well enough to know whether that was a risk he was willing to take but she had a hunch that it wasn't. Below or inside of the seat was the more likely answer then. Her eye briefly flicked to him. Pressure plates could be set to rather precise weights, did he know hers? She wouldn't be surprised. From a glance it even looked like he might've been lighter than her. Yes, she'd say there was a chance he set it up just right that his weight wouldn't trigger it but hers would, allowing him to graciously offer up his seat to prove that it was safe. 

She wouldn't put it past him. 

The fact that he didn't even sit down properly himself added another point to her theory. Taking a gamble she instead rested her arm on the couch's backrest and studied the projection. Were she more capable of introspection she might wonder why holograms always seemed to captivate her despite her usual avoidance of bright or synthetic light, especially when both of her eyes were exposed, but Retsu had far more important things to occupy her mind at the moment. It was only when the projector was shut off that she noticed her brief lapse in cautiousness. A hint of anger smoldered inside at the realization. 

"What did'cha have in mind for that EMP grenade a' yours?" Their first meeting may have been quite a while ago but she had not forgotten. "Or those other projects ya mentioned?

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Tags: facade

[facade]

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| facade | @freelance_facade
Location: Tokyo, Japan. | Current Status: heating up the forge
Now Playing: Tally Hall - The Bidding

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"The mask makes sense-" An off-hand comment, no doubt. Nonetheless, facade raised an eyebrow. What did she mean? He always wore a mask, it'd make no sense to comment on that now. What? If she meant his general maintenance of a secret identity, the only difference between them was that Retsu's own mask had fallen through. A false persona? Did she think, beyond all the obvious shit he was hiding, he was somehow deceiving her in a special way? No use stalling on it. For all facade knew, she'd said that to throw him off. Speaking of fixating on random details... Retsu's eye(s) spoke volumes more than her mouth. What she was imagining, he had no idea. Perhaps some paranoid insistence that this very meeting had all been a trap. Maybe she was just admiring his craftsmansh- Huh?

No longer inspecting details. As facade looked up from his booting laptop, he narrowly caught the explosive expert's gaze stalling on the fading hologram. Weird. "W-" Nope, that's an inside thought! 'What is she, a moth? A deer?' Lucky for him, his mask obscured the shit-eating grin that snuck onto his face. His self-awareness caught the other half.

He maintained eye contact, waiting for Retsu to finish before he responded. "The EMP don't gotta be anything advanced. I can make the actual pulse device, just need a grenade casing that'll let me prime and cook it, plus activation on-contact. Something like a flashbang could work for a base." A few seconds passed before he turned his laptop around to show Retsu a mock-up of what he was describing.

"As for the other project, I had something in mind for your use. Could be useful for you to have a way of remotely deploying your explosives. I'm good with drones, so we could work with that. Or, if the other half of my specialty is of more interest to you," faux-green eyes flashed their true icy hue "-I could make a holographic projector that doubles as an infrared or light-break sensor for triggering traps. If you find yourself outnumbered, it's an easy way to seem like you're not~"

As if to illustrate the second of these points, facade openly flicked a device up into his left hand from his sleeve and stood to face Retsu. Flash drive-sized and jet-black. Flipping a switch, his hand seemed to be replaced by that of a movie robot. He clapped his hands twice, which caused the lights in the room to briefly flicker. With another click, the effect dissipated and he placed the device on the couch armrest. If Retsu had been further scanning the room, she'd notice a weird shimmer in the corner once facade had started talking about drones. "But that's just my stuff, anything you were wanting to work on?"

Bakiri Retsu